The Death of the Dream: Part 6

A mole within SHIELD has allowed Sin and the Serpent Squad to bust Crossbones, the only suspect in the murder of Captain America, out of custody.[1] The search has led them to SHIELD’s resident psychologist. However, the search isn’t going so well as the psychologist has disappeared without a trace. As the agents in the field continue their search, Tony Stark gets a call from the Black Widow. She has been searching for the Winter Soldier since he stole Captain America’s shield. She might have a lead, but has nothing concrete yet.[2] That’s when a field agent reports back that they found the psychologist. Someone stuffed his corpse in the basement freezer. Stark orders the body brought in to be forensically analyzed.

At that same moment, the Winter Soldier (James Barnes, aka Bucky) has just realized he made a mistake. He had gone to confront Aleksander Lukin to learn why he was working with the Red Skull and where he can find him. It’s there that he is ambushed by Crossbones and Sin. As Bucky fights for his life, Lukin puts on a Red Skull mask, confirming his suspicions that Aleksander Lukin is somehow also the Red Skull.[3] However, despite this surprise, James is able to fight off Crossbones and Sin. Grabbing Crossbones by the throat, he begins choking him for killing Steve Rogers.

This amuses the Red skull who wonders what Captain America would think of his former partner becoming a cold blooded murder. This causes James to pause. He then drops Crossbones and starts getting rough with the Skull, since he’s the one who deserves to die for what happened to Cap. The Red Skull finds the irony of the Winter Soldier calling the Red Skull a murderer amusing given his own past history.[4] Once he has finished mocking the Winter Soldier, the Red Skull says the word “Sputnik”, a verbal command that causes the Barnes to suddenly collapse. This was an old shutdown code left over from the Winter Soldier’s Russian handlers that could only be used once. When Crossbones asks why the Skull didn’t use the code earlier, he explains he wanted to see if Winter Soldier would kill Crossbones or if he’d prove completely useless.

The following morning, the Falcon (Sam Wilson) is getting his day started. His pet falcon Redwing is all healed up and he is getting ready for patrol by putting one of his older costumes.[5] That’s when the Black Widow drops by and Sam almost shoot her with his grappling hook. She explains that she has stopped by because she is also searching for the Winter Soldier, just as Sam and Sharon Carter are, and suggests that they work together.[6]

Meanwhile, Sharon has decided to take a home pregnancy test after she has been feeling ill while on the hunt for Winter Soldier.[7] This is the last thing she wanted to have to deal with and prays to Steve Rogers, asking him for advice on what to do next.

At that same moment, Tony Stark is once again reading a personal letter that Steve wrote for him before he died.[8] He looks at a old wartime photo of Captain America and Bucky as he ponders its contents. He curses Steve Rogers as what he has asked is driving him to want to drink.[8] Tony then orders the computer to pull up the “Fallen Son” files, which contains recordings of the moment Captain America was killed and begins examining it once again.

Incidentally, Winter Soldier has been restrained and is being forced to watch this footage over and over as well. This is all the start of a brainwashing process being done by Doctor Faustus. When the mad psychologist enters the room he promises Bucky that when he’s done with him, Faustus will know more about James Barnes that himself.

Meanwhile, Sharon is sitting in the shower thinking about her romance with Steve Rogers and reliving the moment when she shot him. One of his final words to her was that she took his breath away and she realizes that he knew that she was the one who shot her.

At that same moment, Tony Stark is going over the footage and is frustrated that nobody was able to get clear footage of the fatal shots. The only thing that he sees is Sharon Carter by Steve’s side as he bleeds out. Suddenly, Tony realizes something and asks his assistant to find out if Sharon Carter was a patient of the SHIELD psychologist who was murdered. He confirms this just as the Falcon and Black Widow arrive at Sharon’s place. Neither of them aware that another pre-programmed command from Doctor Faustus has kicked in.

As Tony is suiting up as Iron Man, he radios the Widow and tries to warn her that Sharon has been compromised. His warning comes too late as Sharon blasts Natasha and Sam with a stun ray. Getting no response, Iron Man looks at the letter from Steve Rogers one more time. It contains a plea to save the Winter Soldier and that America needs Captain America. Tony finds himself cursing Steve Rogers because everything is falling apart without him.

Recurring Characters

Winter Soldier, Iron Man, Black Widow, Sharon Carter, Falcon, Red Skull/Aleksander Lukin, Crossbones, Sin, Doctor Faustus, SHIELD, Redwing

Continuity Notes

1. Captain America was seemingly killed in Captain America (vol. 5) #25. In reality, he was displaced in time as part of a complex plot by the Red Skull to steal his body, as will be revealed in Captain America: Reborn #1-5. Crossbones was a shooter, not the shooter who “killed” Steve though. That was Sharon Carter, who had been brainwashed by Doctor Faustus in Captain America (vol. 5) #22. Faustus was also manipulating other SHIELD agents, which is how Sin managed to break out her boyfriend last issue.

2. Winter Soldier stole Captain America’s shield in Captain America (vol. 5) #27.

3. While still enslaved by Aleksander Lukin, the Winter Soldier was sent to kill the Red Skull in Captain America (vol. 5) #1. However, the Skull cheated death by using the Cosmic Cube to transfer his mind into Lukin’s body, something we didn’t learn until issue #14. Up until now, Bucky had been unaware of this. He only knew that the Red Skull somehow survived when he claimed ownership of an attack on London that took place in Captain America (vol. 5) #18-21. The Red Skull will remain a resident in Lukin’s head until issue #42.

4. In case you’re late to the party, the first fourteen issues of this series were about how Bucky Barnes survived World War II and was transformed into the assassin known as Winter Soldier. This eventually put him in the ownership of Aleksander Lukin. Between issues #1 and 6 he seemingly killed the Red Skull, Jack Monroe, and set off a bomb in Philadelphia that killed thousands.

5. Falcon is putting on a version of his second costume, which he started wearing in Captain America #144.

6. The Winter Soldier went AWOL after Captain America’s “death” in Captain America (vol. 5) #26. Sam and Sharon have been looking for him for Nick Fury to prevent him from killing Tony Stark, whom James blames for Cap’s death. The Black Widow was assigned to find Barnes by Stark himself after James stole Captain America’s shield from SHIELD.

7. Sharon was struck with a bout of morning sickness in the middle of a fight with AIM last issue and it almost cost her life. Although it’s not outright stated, Steve likely knocked Sharon up in Captain America (vol. 5) #16. The baby will never come to term as Sharon will experience a violent miscarriage by way of combat knife to the womb in Captain America (vol. 5) #40.

8. The posthumous letter from Steve Rogers was delivered to Tony in Captain America (vol. 5) #28.

9. Tony Stark is a life long alcoholic, a fact that he didn’t recognize until Iron Man #128. He has struggled with sobriety his entire adult life. Tony has been on the wagon since Iron Man (vol. 2) #1.

The Initiative Reading Order

Civil War: The Initiative #1, Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #13, 14, 15, 16, 17, Thunderbolts #112, 113, 114, 115, Omega Flight #1-5, Moon Knight (vol. 3) #13, Captain America (vol. 5) #26, 27, 28, 29, 30, New Avengers #27, 28, 29, 30, 31, New Warriors (vol. 4) #1-8, Black Panther (vol. 4) #27, 28, 29, 30, Iron Man: Agent of SHIELD #15, 16, 17, 18, Avengers: The Initiative #1, 2, 3, Fantastic Four #547, 548, 549, 550, Punisher: War Journal (vol. 2) #6-11, Mighty Avengers #1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, Sub-Mariner (vol. 2) #1-6, The Order (vol. 2) 1-4, Penance: Relentless #1, 2, 3, 4, 5